1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for controlling a camera module in a mobile terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device and a method for operating a mobile terminal having a single camera module in different camera modes to reduce the power consumption of the mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A third generation (3G) mobile phone having two cameras uses a high resolution (2 megapixel) camera in a general camera mode or a VGA camera in a video conference mode. These cameras operate at different pixel clock frequencies according to the selected mode.
The video conference mode increases the power consumption of the mobile terminal. Consequently, the VGA camera is operated at a lower pixel clock frequency to reduce the power consumption.
A mobile terminal having a single camera, however, uses the same camera sensor in both modes and applies the same pixel clock frequency both in the general camera mode for taking a photograph or a motion picture and in the video conference mode.
In a folder-type mobile terminal having a single high-resolution swivel camera, the camera is used in the video conference mode in the same manner as it is used in the general motion picture mode. When compared to a 3G mobile terminal using a separate VGA camera in the video conference mode, a mobile terminal using a single high-resolution camera performs additional operations for resizing an image obtained by the camera sensor to reduce the size of the image due to the high pixel clock frequency and limitations in the data transmission rate and the amount of data to be transmitted. Therefore, the power consumption in this type of terminal is relatively high, which also results in the increase of the duty cycle of a multimedia device.